Road safety - a shared responsibility
- Part 1 -

Dr Rangitabali Waikhom *

Students participating in Walkathon in Imphal for National Road Safety Week on January 17 2015 :: Pix - Shankar Khangembam

Every year across the country, the month of January is important as Road Safety Week is observed every year in January. This year, the 27th Road Safety Week is observed from 10th January to 16th January, 2016 with the theme "Road Safety-Time for Action". The underlying objectives for road safety observance are to emphasize the need for safe roads and to highlight the urgency in taking up various road safety measures in the country.

Road accidents are the 9th leading cause of deaths in the world. In India, about 1.40 lakh people were killed and 4.93 lakh persons were injured in around 4.89 lakh road accidents as reported in the year 2014. On an average, 56 road accidents take place every hour killing about 16 persons in India. It is the 5th leading cause of death in India. It is unfortunate that 53.8 percent road accident victims are in the age group of 15 to 34 years who are in the productive age group.

Majority of the fatalities are pedestrians, cyclists, school children and other vulnerable road users belonging to the weaker sections of the society. It is extremely difficult for a family to overcome lifelong trauma in the death of main bread earner or who has been disabled for life. In addition, the economic cost of road accidents in India is estimated at about 3 per cent of India's GDP.

There are various factors causing road accidents. The broad causative factors for road accidents are road infrastructure, bad vehicle conditions, environmental conditions and road user behavior. Some of the general issues relating to road infrastructure are bad road surface, culverts, sharp curves, narrow bridges, defective road designs, road signage, absence of foot paths and cycle lanes, conflicting traffic flows due to absence of segregation, poor lighting, unauthorized structures on the roads, presence of shops, buses and autos stopping and parking at inappropriate places etc.

Vehicle condition is also an important factor in causing road accidents. Aged vehicles, poor brakes, poor tyres, bad lighting, overloading are some vehicle factors. Environmental factors affecting road safety are rain, fog, dust, darkness, encroachments on the roads etc. We may group road users as drivers of motor and non motorized vehicles, and pedestrians. For drivers, we may identify lack of driving skills, physiological and psychological conditions, overconfidence, lack of knowledge of traffic rules, lane jumping, red light jumping, over speeding, dangerous driving, use of liquor, non wearing of helmet, seat belts etc. as the main causes for road accidents.

For pedestrians, lack of pedestrian facilities, lack of awareness of traffic rules etc are some general causes for road accidents. There are road safety provisions in the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989. Almost all the provisions are intended to promote safety in road transport. There are provisions for competence to drive, driving test, schools for imparting lessons in driving, departmental action against drivers-disqualification, suspension, cancellation, offences and their penalties and other miscellaneous provisions.

The Supreme Court of India has directed the Government of each State to effectively implement and enforce all the provisions of the Act. There is constant supervision by the Supreme court of India of the measures undertaken by the Central and the State Governments and a 3 member Committee chaired by Hon'ble Justice K.S Radhakrishnan, Judge, Supreme Court of India, has been constituted to monitor the implementation of road safety measures on behalf of the Supreme Court of India.

The Government of India is planning important road safety initiatives, including the Road Transport and Safety Bill, a National Road Safety Policy and Cashless Treatment of road accident victims, to check the problem of road accidents. The National Road Safety Policy is formulated by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. It is an important policy initiative of the Government covering both preventive and post-accident aspects of Road Safety encompassing initiatives of public policy as well as implementation aspects, as also the responsibilities of various stakeholders.

The salient points of the policy are
(1) raising awareness about road safety issues
(2) providing enabling legal, institutional and financial environment for road safety
(3) road safety information data base
(4) safer road infrastructure
(5) safer vehicles
(6) safer drivers
(7) safety for vulnerable road users
(8) road traffic safety education and training
(9) traffic enforcement
(10) emergency medical services for road accidents
(11) HRD and research for road safety.

A dedicated National Road Safety Board has been established to put into action as laid down in the Road Safety policy. National Road Safety Council which is the apex body for road safety is constituted and chaired by Minister/RT&H. Under the National Highway Accident Relief Service Scheme, cranes and ambulances are provided to the States for relief and rescue measures in the occurrence of road accidents. The Ministry is at implementing a scheme under which road safety equipments are given to States for effective enforcement of rules and regulations regarding road safety.

Our State has established the State Road Safety Council chaired by Minister/Transport, Manipur and District Road Safety Committee. A high level Committee on Road Safety chaired by the Chief Secretary, Government of Manipur is established already.

A Sub Committee on Black Spots is set up to identify black spots in the State and immediate treatment as necessitated. As advised by the Ministry, our State has created the Road Safety Fund in diverting at least 50% of the funds generated from fines collected of violation of traffic rules which is used for various road safety activities in the State.

Most of the time, people do not come forward to help road accident victims for fear of victimization. The Supreme Court of India on 29th October, 2014 in the course of the hearing of a Writ Petition, directed the Central Government to issue necessary guidelines for the protection of Good Samaritans.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified guidelines dated 12th May, 2015 to protect Good Samaritans, who come forward to help road accident victims from legal and procedural harassment. However, there has been no publicity to make people aware of their rights and privileges if they helped a road accident victim.

To be continued...

(The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government)